Railroad-track clearer.



W. H. COATE'S.

RAILROAD TRACK CLEARER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-15, 1915.

1,162,338. Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

COLUMBIA PLANOflRAPl-I 50-. WASHINGTON. D. c.

W. H. COATES.

RAILROAD TRACK CLEARER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- IS. 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

awe/M306 WALTER-n. oon'rns, 10F NATHALIE, VIR I IA.

RAILROAD-TEASE CLE-ABER.

specification of Letters Patent. "fatentfl 31), 1915,

Application filed February 15,1915. Serial No. 8,324. i

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, WALTER COATES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nathalie, in the county of Halifax and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Track.

Clearers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to track clearers, the principal object of the same being to provide a device of simple construction to;

be attached to the pilot beam of a locomotive, and to be operated by a lever or connection within the cab of the locomotive for raising'and" lowering a clearer blade or plate to a position to remove obstructions lying uponthe track rails.

The foregoing and other objects may be attained by means of the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a track clearer made in accordance with this invention and connected to the pilot beam of a cow-catcher on a locomotive, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the track clearer disconnect-ed from the locomotive, Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the track clearer in position for 'use, Fig. 4 is a detail front elevation of one of the clearer blades and the guide ther'efor, the lower end of said blade and the ends I of the guides being shown broken away, and

. Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of one of the clearer blades and its guide member.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the pilot-beam of a locomotive and 2 is the cow-catcher. Journaled in bearings 8 on the upper side of the pilotbeam 1 is a rock shaft 4, and extending at right angles and secured to said rock shaft 4 are arms 5, said arms being in vertical alinement with the track rails a.

The clearer blades 6" are mountedin vertical guide members each consisting of a1 back portion 7 provided w1th a slot 8, 'two" spacing members at the side indicated by the numerals 9 and a front plate 11 secured'by bolts 12 to the spacing strips 9. The guide members are connectedto the cross bar 1 by fastening plates 13, said guide members being in vertical alinement with the track rails a. Projecting outward from the clearer blade Gare rods 14, said rods being in vertical alinement with the .rods 5, and chains or.

other fiexible connections 15 are connected to theouter ends ofthe rods 5 and 14. 'A.

. stoppin 16 is secured to each clearer. blade 6 1301111111? the downward movement of said.

clearer blades, and these pins project suiiiciently through the slot 8 to limit the upward movement of saidclearer blades.

Connected to the rock shaft L at one end thereof is an arm 17, and pivoted to the up per endof this arm is a connecting rod 18 which leads to the cab and is provided with suitable means within reach of'the engineer for operating the track clearer by rocking the shaft 4L and raising and lowering the clearer blades 6.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that when the clearer blades 6 are in their lowermost positions, the lower ends of said clearer blades are disposed about'one-fourth of an inch from the tread surface of the rails a, and will clearthe rails of any obstructions which would be liable to derail the train, such as bolts, and other obstructions of similar character. The clearer blade 6 may be raised as the train nears a station, in order that signal torpedoes may not be swept off the rails.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from I the spirit and scope of the invention as de-.

connecting said plates and spacing bars, said plates beingin vertical alinement with the track rails, clearer blades slidably mounted between said plates, rods extending out from I said blades, flexible connections between said clearer blade rods and rock shaft rods, and

means for rocking said shaftrand thereby raising or lowering said clearer blade.

' 2. A track clearer comprising a bearing secured to the pilot beam of a locomotive, a rock shaft mounted in said bearings, rods extending out from said shaft at points immediately above the track rails, back guide plates, short front guide plates secured at their lower ends to the back of the cowcatcher, spacing bars between said plates and being secured to the pilot beam, bolt connecting said plates and spacing bars, said plates being in vertical alinenient with the track rails, clearer blades slidably mounted between said plates, rods extending out from said blades, flexible connections between said clearer blade rods and rock shaft rods and means for rocking said shaft and thereby raising or lowering said clearer blade, said back guide plates each having a slot, a pin secured to each of said clearer blades and extending through said slots thereby limiting the movement of said clearer blades.

, In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' WALTER H. COATES.

Witnesses:

WVATT HAzELWoon, E. H. HENDERSON.

( Ionics vof this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washingtoml). C. 

